John Birch Society

American  

noun

1. an ultraconservative organization, founded in December 1958 by Robert Welch, Jr., chiefly to combat alleged Communist activities in the U.S.

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John Birch Society British  

noun

1. politics a fanatical right-wing association organized along semisecret lines to fight Communism

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John Birch Society Cultural  

1. A conservative organization prominent in the 1950s and 1960s. The society was particularly concerned with the dangers of communism, and its views were considered extreme by most Americans.

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Etymology

Origin of John Birch Society

C20: named after John Birch (killed by Chinese communists 1945), American USAF captain whom its members regarded as the first cold-war casualty

Example Sentences

It opens with an interview of Scott Camil, a Brooklyn-born Floridian raised by a cop who was an active John Birch Society member; Camil joined the Marine Corps and served in Vietnam.

From Slate

The flag is studded with the names of people who have pushed those freedoms to the brink, from Harriet Tubman to the John Birch Society.

From Slate

The John Birch Society was the post-WWII fringe group so committed to rooting out its perceived Communist menace here at home that it saw Commies and their conspiracies even where there were none.

From Los Angeles Times

Matthew Dallek, a political historian at George Washington University, is the author, most recently, of “Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right.”

From Salon

I think the American Mercury, like the John Birch Society in general and the magazine American Opinion in particular, were real rivals for conservative influence to Buckley and National Review.

From Salon